'City of Champions' celebrates San Jose soccer

FAMILY

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, October 20, 2011

The San Jose Earthquakes are among the teams featured in a new exhibition at San Jose City Hall.

The San Jose Earthquakes are among the teams featured in a new exhibition at San Jose City Hall.

Photo: Courtesy Of History San José

'City of Champions' celebrates San Jose soccer

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The United States may not demonstrate the level of soccer fever that you see in other nations, but as any soccer kid can tell you, there are plenty of homegrown soccer heroes and heroines - as well as golden moments - to be proud of.

All that will go on display this weekend, when History San José opens "City of Champions: 2001, a San Jose Soccer Odyssey." The free exhibition celebrates the year when the San Jose Earthquakes and the Bay Area CyberRays simultaneously held the men's and women's national pro championship titles, the first and only time a city could claim that.

These pieces of sports history, along with thousands of others, will one day become the start of what History San José board member Don Gagliardi says will be a more permanent tribute to the local roots of the sport.

Gagliardi can precisely pinpoint the moment he had the idea for an exhibit on the history of soccer in San Jose. "Back in 2005, I went to Buenos Aires and saw the stadium that's home to the Boca Juniors, La Bombonera," he says. "While I was there, I visited the museum and I thought, 'We should have this in San Jose.' "

Organizers say they hope that when the new stadium for the Earthquakes is built near Mineta San Jose International Airport, the exhibit space inside will house the collection of memorabilia and artifacts, much of it donated by fans and soccer aficionados.

Divided into four sections, the exhibits will take visitors from the early days of soccer in San Jose, including the old San Jose Earthquakes of the NASL, to the women's World Cup championship in 1999, to the championships in 2001, and through the present day. To punctuate each section, there are filmed highlights from famous games, as well as a video of the entire 2001 MLS championship game (the Quakes also won the MLS title in 2003; the CyberRays and their league, the WUSA, folded in 2003).

One of the star attractions will be the famous sports bra worn by Chastain - herself on the advisory board for History San José - and famously revealed in a moment of exuberance when the U.S. women won the 1999 Women's World Cup in Pasadena (to get there, they beat Brazil in a semifinal match at Stanford Stadium).

"It's a perfect exhibit for kids," Gagliardi says. It'll be one that no doubt will inspire future generations of soccer champions.